The Ignorance Conundrum
by SandwichesYumYum
Summary: Testing the waters, fic-wise. Shenny. Now expanded.


**The Ignorance Conundrum**

**_Author's Note:_**

_Hello there, good folk of Fanficville. Just putting out a wee tiny fic for the very first time, in this fandom, to see if I can get feedback on characterisation. This will, should it be expanded, be a Shenny fic, without any insult or meanness meant to those on other ships, as it were. I realise I have to tread carefully in this fandom, which makes me sad. The way I figure it, there's plenty of room for all of us. I dunno about you, but to me the tinternets seems ginormous. Hugs to all._

**_Secondary Author's Note:_**

_Thank you all for such a positive response to the mini version of this chapter that I previously posted! You've made me feel really welcome in this fandom. Here that chapter is, in an expanded form, albeit unbetaed. Please excuse any Britishisms. I can't help that, what with all the Britishness happening. Here. In Britain. Future posting may be intermittent, but unless my head falls off, I will finish this little story. Bestest wishies all round! _:)

**_Chapter One: The Eureka Moment_**

This situation, or an approximation thereof, may have happened before.

Last night's verbal tussle over Sheldon's 'Halo' tactic, of repeatedly killing Penny the moment she came back to life, has spilled over into a morning of narrowed eyes and general pouting on both sides.

They had left it with him claiming that such actions were by no means unfair, and not prohibited by any actual rules. She, normally mostly unbothered the quirks of her gangly neighbour, had inexplicably found it, just this once, truly infuriating; calling him a bad loser and storming out when he mentioned her 'menses'.

So, this morning, when she slouches into 4A, only to dash to the fridge as soon as she notices the room is unexpectedly not empty, they pick up where they left off.

Sheldon does not even look at her, pouring water into his cup as he speaks. "Really, Penny? Did you not drive me to the store after work, yesterday?"

She looks at him over the open fridge door, and answers tightly. "_Yes_, Sheldon."

He puts the kettle down. "And do they not sell milk? I seem to recall buying milk there. _Yesterday_."

"Yes, Sheldon. But I'm a little short on cash. We can't all be well paid, super brainiac physicists."

This would normally be the end of the issue, as Sheldon's rarely seen but very present sense of generosity would kick in, and let it go. But not today.

He glares, and his voice becomes brittle, his accent beginning to twang. "But this is a flagrant and abominable abrogation of the rules."

She slams the refrigerator door closed and she glares back, her tone challenging. "Your rules, Sheldon. Not mine."

He engages his most pointy finger. "I have always been clear that any infringement of the rules is..."

She's furious, and irritated, and not unalarmed at having been caught during a milk raid, in barely more than her underwear and a t-shirt. So she interrupts him. "Not even important, Moon Pie. Not even an AB-RO-GATION." His eyebrow twitches and she crows in response. "Yeah. I looked it up!"

He looks both quizzical, and mildly offended at this, even as he quietly trots out his standard rejoinder. "Don't call me Moon Pie. Only Meemaw can call me Moon Pie." His actual answering tone, however, speaks a great deal of his view of her as a theoretical third grader. "Sooooo..?"

She doesn't bite. But she does bark. "It was never official! I've never signed anything! I can take ALL the milk, if I have...PRIOR PERMISSION!" She suddenly points back at him, fiercely, but then her hand drops in frustration, as he refuses to further engage with her.

They continue to glare at each other. She wonders why she even bothers spending time with this weirdo. He wonders why she is even in his home at all. They are both, simply, wondering why in the hell they put up with each other.

There is a pause.

He huffs, eventually.

"I'm impressed, Penny." He picks his cup up from the island, passes her and paces away, as precisely as ever, to go and sit down in his spot. "Do move along before Doctor Who begins. 'Blink' is on."

At no point, during this entire exchange, do either of them pay a scrap of attention to Leonard, even when he hands Penny a mug of coffee. He begins to fear the onset of another battle royal, probably involving more public displays of underwear, when he is hit by the metaphorical bolt out of the blue.

It is a nothing moment, so ordinary that it might have happened a hundred, a thousand times, right in front of him, without his noting it. But today, for some reason, it is as if a veil is torn from his eyes, as if he can suddenly what has been glaringly obvious, all along.

He has been standing behind the island this whole time, and so he has the perfect view, as Penny, on her way to the door, stops in front of the television and turns to look at Sheldon, in his spot. With one hand holding her cup, the other firmly planted on her hip, she grins. "I don't care how old 'Halo' is, sweetie. It isn't a 'vintage' game. I think you just wanted to get your own back after I kicked your ass on Wednesday."

And then it happens. Sheldon, who has briefly closed his eyes, as if in silent prayer to his mother's God, at Penny's impertinence, looks at her. And Leonard would swear that, just momentarily, his eyes raked over her, entirely. For the merest fraction of a second, his crazy roommate is looking at a woman, _as_ a woman.

Leonard can feel the skin on his arms turn to gooseflesh, even as Penny winks at Sheldon, her smile on full beam as she saunters out of the apartment.

Sheldon is saying something about annoying actresses interrupting his 'Doctor Who' time, but Leonard doesn't respond. It's like his mind has suffered an electrical storm, and it takes a little time to spool back into life.

And when it does, everything is different.

Doctor Sheldon Cooper actually has a deal. In fact, he's probably had a deal for years. And the thing is, his deal might just reciprocate.

"Oh," he mutters, to himself.

Was that there all along?

He shakes his head, picks up his cup, and shuffles back off to his bedroom. Whilst it is Saturday, he has to get ready for work, and it is far too early in the morning for such (frankly terrifying) leaps of intuition.

/-/-/-/-/

It is, nonetheless, all he can think of at work, all day.

It would explain a lot.

The Beta Test with Penny had failed, a few months previously. Well, not so much failed, as fizzled out, with both sides deciding that they weren't ever going to be truly happy as a real and long term 'thing'. It had hurt, at the time, but in all honesty, not as much as he'd thought it would. There was no animosity between them.

And Sheldon had verbally noted the post break-up lack of Alanis Morissette, a.k.a. 'that caterwauling female', with some approval.

But Sheldon? And Penny?

He mulls it over, again and again, stoically ignoring the small part of his brain that still insists on yelling, "Mine!" and thinking back to all the moments he'd missed, that he'd overlooked.

His mind swirls with 'sweeties', and odd sickness songs, and hair barrettes.

Damn.

It is that 'that' has been there all along.

And he can hardly blame _them_, because if he is not mistaken (and he rarely is, despite Sheldon's assertions to the contrary), they are both entirely ignorant of the matter.


End file.
